Forage harvester cutting reel and gauge pins for positioning the cutting blades thereon

ABSTRACT

A forage harvester has a cutting reel of three pairs of radially extending supporting plates with each supporting plate having two concentric rows of equally spaced mounting holes for passing bolts to fasten cutting blade mounting blocks between the plates of a given pair. The blocks project beyond the edges of the blades and have contoured end surfaces to seat spirally shaped cutting blades on the blocks. The blades are bolted to the blocks so that these bolts will shear more readily than the mounting bolts through the plates. The blades are positioned on the mounting blocks by retractable gauge pins exteriorly positioned on the opposite side walls of the forage harvester a radial distance equal to the radial distance from the center of the cutting reel to the shear bar.

United States Patent 1 [111 3,729,143 Wagstaff et al. 51 Apr. 24, 1973[54] FORAGE HARVESTER CUTTING REEL FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS ANDGAUGE PINS FOR POSITIONING THE CUTTING BLADES THEREON Inventors: RobertA. Wagstaff; Thomas W.

Waldrop, both of New Holland, Pa.

Sperry Rand Corporation, New Holland, Pa.

Filed: Apr. 29, 1971 Appl. No.: 138,539

Assignee:

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1968 Waldrop et al. ..l46/l 17R 2/1968 Waldrop 146/242 7/1960 Buttke ..5 H249 2,147 l/19l4 GreatBritain ..5l/249 Primary ExaminerAndrew R. Juhasz Assistant Examiner-Z.R. Bilinsky Attorney-John C. Thompson, Joseph A. Brown and James J.Kennedy [57] ABSTRACT A forage harvester has a cutting reel of threepairs of radially extending supporting plates with each supporting platehaving two concentric rows of equally spaced mounting holes for passingbolts to fasten cutting blade mounting blocks between the plates of agiven pair. The blocks project beyond the edges of the blades and havecontoured end surfaces to seat spirally shaped cutting blades on theblocks. The blades are bolted'to the blocks so that these bolts willshear more readily than the mounting bolts through the plates. Theblades are positioned on the mounting blocks by retractable gauge pinsexteriorly positioned on the opposite side walls of the forage harvestera radial distance equalto the radial distance from the center of thecutting reel to the shear bar.

12 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures Patented April 24, 1973 3,729,143

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR R05RT 7. wmssrfiFF BY 7/0/1495 9- WHLOQOPATTORNEY Patented April 24, 1973 3,729,143

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR FORAGE HARVESTER CUTTING REEL AND GAUGE PINSFOR POSITIONING THE CUTTING BLADES THEREON may be reduced to silage inthe field as they are harvested or at the storage facilities. The cropsare reduced to the small piece silage for ease of handling and storage.In the field, the silage is discharged into a trailing wagon which maybe readily unloaded into a trench silo or blown up into a vertical silo.

The cut crops occasionally have debris in the form of iron or wood orthe like which may be fed into the cutting reel. The cutting blades maystrike this debris with considerable force and be damaged by the impact.In the previous cutting reel of forage harvesters, the force on theblade would be transferred to the radial supporting plates causingdamage and rupture of the plates. This type of damage is highlyundesirable. It requires the replacement or repair of the main part ofthe cutting reel. This can be expensive as well as time consuming and atlocations unconvenient to repair the damage.

Also very important is the cutting relation of the blades and shear barin order to secure a reduction of the crop to small pieces. In someforage harvesters the blades are separately ground and remounted on thereel. The blades are precisely set by the insertion of a gauge betweenthe edge of the shear bar and each blade. Other types of forageharvesters have a sharpener attached thereto in the form of an abrasivestone. The blades are set against a precisely positioned abrasive stoneor other gauge means. The reel is then rotated in reverse for sharpeningby the grinding stone. The shear bar is positioned in relation to thecutting blades. This avoids the setting of each blade in relation to theshear bar. The stone, however, is not rigidly mounted and is subject tochipping as the blades are used as a gauge. In other forage harvesterspositioning lugs extend radially inward from the casing and form areference surface in which the cutting blades may be positioned by leafgauges fitting between these surfaces and the edge of the cuttingblades. This has a disadvantage of the reference surfaces being veryclose to the cutting blades when rotating and requiring leaf gaugesetting for each blade. These surfaces also may become fouled in thecourse of operation of the forage harvester.

It is therefore the purpose of this invention to provide mountings forspiral cutting blades of a forage harvester that minimizethe'possibility of damage to the supporting plates upon the applicationof an excessive force to the cutting blades, and a further purpose is toprovide means to properly and easily position the cutting blades in aconvenient and rapid manner.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of this invention is toprovide a cutting reel of a forage harvester with cutting blademountings that minimizes the possibility of damage to the supportingplates on damaging force being applied to the cutting blades.

Another object of the invention is to provide individual mountings ofthe cutting blades on each supporting plate means.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cutting reel in whichthe cutting blades and mounting blocks may be readily mounted andremoved.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cutting reel havingmeans whereby the number of cutting blades may be readily changed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sturdy and ruggedcutting reel in which the cutting blades may be readily rearranged andthe application of damaging force to the main part of the reel isminimized.

Another object of the invention is to provide cutting blade positioningmeans that are conveniently located for positioning the cutting bladesand are retractable clear of the comminuting chamber.

In summary, the invention comprises a forage harvester with a cuttingreel having axially spaced supporting means and having cutting bladesdetachably fastened to each supporting means by discrete mounting meanswhich are detachably secured to a respective supporting means andfurther comprises blade positioning means exteriorly mounted on theforage harvester and insertable into the comminuting chamber forpositioning the cutting blades on the mounting means.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will beapparent from the following description and claims taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings which illustrate the various features ofthis invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of thecutting reel with the shear bar shown in dash lines.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the cutting reel with one guide pin in gaugingposition and an opposing guide pin in a removed position.

FIG. 3 illustrates the top of the cutting reel with the guide pinsoffset to correspond to the spiral positioning of the cutting blade.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side view with the cutting blade mounted in sixpositions.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side view of the cutting reel and shear bar.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary end view of the cutting reel with eight cuttingblades.

FIG. 7 is an end view of a cutting reel with twelve cutting bladesthereon.

FIG.' 8 is a perspective end view of the mounting block with therectangular end indicated by dot-dash lines.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1 of thedrawings the cutting reel of the cutterhead of the forage harvester isonly shown for simplicity of illustration. The shear bar 21 is indicatedin dash lines in FIG. 1 with the cutting reel 20 shown in perspectiveand facing the incoming cut crops which are to be chopped by the rapidlyrotating blades 29 against the stationary shear bar 21. The cutting reelhas a reel shaft 22 which is supported in antifriction bearings (notshown) mounted on the casing for rotation of the reel about an axis A.Six supporting plates 23 and 28 are mounted on and welded to the shaft22 and extend radially perpendicularly therefrom. The six plates aregrouped into three pairs with the plates of each pair spaced apart asmall axial distance to receive the mounting blocks 35,36 and 37 betweenthe respective pairs of supporting plates. The supporting plates areflat disc shaped members having circular edges. Two circular concentricrows of 24 holes are arranged around the plates for passing the mountingbolts 38,39 and 40 through the holes of the respective support plates.The outer row of holes 41 are adjacent the periphery of the supportingplates and the inner row of holes 42 are positioned radially inwardlyfrom the holes of the outer row.

The mounting blocks 35,36 and 37 are rectangular in cross section andhave a thickness corresponding to the space between the plates of apair. The length extends inwardly between the plates and the width is inthe circumferential direction of the plates. The inner triangular shapedends of the mounting blocks are positioned between the support plates.The side surfaces are flat and parallel. The outer end surface 45 of themounting block is contoured as illustrated in FIG. 8 to conform with thespiral shape of the cutting blade 29. In FIG. 8, a rectangular shapedend is illustrated in dot-dash lines to emphasize the contoured natureof the end surface. The portions of the mounting blocks fitting betweenthe supporting plates have three holes. The inner end surface 46 of themounting block is approximately at 45 to the main axis B of the block.Two of the mounting holes are centered parallel to the inner endsurface. The other opening or hole in the block is positioned on a lineapproximately 45 to the line through the centers of the holes parallelto the inner end. The mounting block is positioned between the plates sothat the hole at the apex of the triangular portion coincides with ahole in the inner row and the two other holes coincide with the holes ofthe outer row in the supporting plate. In this position the main axis Bof the mounting plate is tilted in the order of about 40 to 45 to theradius of the supporting plate. This positions the cutting edge of theblade so that it subscribes an arc C further from the center or mainaxis A than any other portion of the cutting reel. The surface 31 alongthe cutting edge and the beveled surface 32, spaced from the cuttingedge, are in relief from this subscribed cutting circle C. Thus onpassing the shear bar the leading cutting edge passes adjacent to theshear bar with the surfaces in relief therefrom. The cutting blade ismounted on the outer end surface of the mounting block which has a bolthole 47 as illustrated in FIG. 8 for receiving the bolt 48 to secure thecutting blade to the mounting block. The cutting blade has transverseslots 49 for passing the bolts. The mounting bolts may be five-eightsinch in diameter whereas the supporting plate bolts 38,39, 40 areone-half inch in diameter so that the combined shear strength of thethree mounting bolts attached to the supporting plates is substantiallygreater than the mounting bolt on the end of the mounting block. Thus,on application of an excessive force to a cutting blade, the blockmounting bolt 48 will rupture or fracture and not the supporting platebolts 38-40. The supporting plate is of sufficient strength to resistany disrupting force of the block mounting bolts and therefore will notsustain any damage when an excessive force is applied to the cuttingblade.

The cutting blades may slide back in the slots 49 without fracturing thebolt 48 on application of excessive force. The space 58 in back of theblade is clear to permit the blade to move back a distance withoutcontacting a mounting or a supporting plate. If forced back far enoughit may engage the periphery of the plates but not seriously damage theplates.

The pairs of supporting plates are offset so that the mounting holes ofeach pair are offset to position the mounting blocks along a spiral lineto receive the spiral cutting blades. In the embodiment of FIGS. 14there are six cutting blades mounted on the reel and spaced equalcircumferential distances therearound. Since only half the holes of theouter row are being utilized for attaching the mounting blocks there aretwo holes between each set of mounting blocks.

In FIG. 6 the mounting blocks are positioned closer together with asingle hole of the outer row unused between the blocks. Eight cuttingblades are mounted on the reel in this embodiment. In FIG. 7 twelveblades are mounted on the reel. The reel is set to different numbers ofcutting blades by removing the supporting plate bolts and shifting theblocks to register with another set of holes. The supporting plate boltsare readily accessible from outside of the forage harvester.

CUTTING BLADE POSITIONING MEANS In FIGS. 2-5 the guide pins 50,51 areillustrated for positioning the cutting blades 29 in relation to theshear bar 21. The guide pins are mounted in the side walls 32,33 ofv thecommuniting chamber and U-shaped brackets 52,53 extendingperpendicularly from the outer surfaces of the side walls. The outer endof the brackets have openings 54,55 aligned with the respective openings56,57 in the side wall so that the guide pins 50,51 are movable inwardlyand outwardly. In FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 the openings are aligned and thepins are aligned. In FIG. 3 an offset guide pin is also shown so thatthe opposite ends of the spiral cutting blade engage the guide pins atthe same time. The guide pins are spaced radially within the range ofpositions of the cutting edge of the shear bar. In this embodiment theguide pins 50,51 have square cross sections and the openings 54-57 inthe side wall and brackets are also square to position and hold theguide pins. The guide pins 50,51 have pinned washers 60,61 and helicalsprings 62,63 within the brackets. The springs are between therespective side walls and washers to force the guide pins to theextracted position. Holes or bores 64,65 are provided in the outer endof the respective pins to receive the respective retention members66,67. On positioning the guide pins in the inward or guide engagingposition, the retention members are removed from the bores andreinserted on the inner side of the mounting brackets to carry theoutward force of the helical springs and hold the guide pins in theinward position in the communiting chamber.

The advantages of the guide pins will be seen from the followingdescription of the method of resharpening the blades of the cuttingreel. Each cutting blade, after being loosely mounted on the mountingblocks, is positioned against the inwardly facing side surface of theguide pins. The bolts 48 are then tightened to hold each knife in itscorrect position. When all of the cutting blades are so positioned theguide pins are retracted and the reel driven in the reversed directionand the blades ground by the sharpener 70.'When all of the blades aresharpened, the shear bar is adjusted against the cutting edge of one ofthe blades by charging the settings on the shear adjustable support 72.The positioning of the shear bar 21 may be done by feeling the bar inrelation to the selected blade. However, the preferred and recommendedmethod is to position a leaf gauge through opening 71 provided in theside walls 32,33 and measure the actual clearance between the cuttingedge of the blade and the edge of the shear bar. The shear bar ispositioned by the adjusting means 72 to the correct cutting clearance.Since due to the grinding process the edges of each cutting bladesubscribes the same are C, the setting of the shear bar in relation toone blade sets it into relation with all the blades.

Summary of Features and Advantages The main features of this inventionare the individual mounting of the cutting blade on each pair ofsupporting plates and the mounting bolts securing the cutting blade tothe mountings giving way before the bolts securing the mountings to thesupporting plates can give way. Another feature is the isolation of thecutting blades from the supporting plates. Damaging forces applied tothe blade are initially applied to the mountings with a minimalpossibility of these forces damaging essential parts of the supportingplates. The blades and mountings are easily replaced and the forageharvester repaired in short time. In prior harvesters the blades arefastened on the supporting plates in such a manner that the supportingplates are very likely to sustain serious damage. This requires a majoroverhaul of the cutting reel at a substantial greater cost andexpenditure of time.

The cutting blade positioning means are conveniently located and storedexteriorly to the comminuting chamber. On positioning of the cuttingblades the guide pins are easily inserted under spring pressure into thecomminuting chamber in gauging position. The pins are located in theupper part of the forage harvester where the cutting blades are easilyset in place.

This in combination with the accessibility of the mountings, greatlyimproves the replacement of the cutting blades on the reel and therepositioning of th blades in different number of sets of blades.

While this invention has been described in connection with a singleembodiment it will be understood that this embodiment is capable ofmodification and that this application is intended to cover anyvariations, uses, or adaptations following in general the principles ofthe invention and including such departures from the presentdisclosure'as come within known or customary practices of the art towhich the invention pertains and as fall within the scope of theinvention or the limits of the apended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim l. A forage harvesterreel comprising a rotatably mounted shaft,

a plurality of pairs of closely spaced apart disc-like supporting meanshaving a generally circular outer periphery,

said supporting means being axially spaced on an extending normal tosaid shaft and fixedly attached thereto,

a plurality of cutting blades with each having a cutting edge,

a plurality of discrete mounting blocks for each supporting means with amounting block for one supporting means being separate from the mountingblocks of the other supporting means, each mounting block having asmooth end surface,

first fastening means detachably securing said cutting blades to therespective end surfaces of said mounting blocks with said cutting bladesextending generally transverse to the respective mounting blocks andsaid fastening means and said cutting blades providing for rearwarddisplacement of said blades relative to the mounting block onapplication of excessive force thereto,

second fastening means detachably securing said mounting blocks betweenpairs of respective supporting means with the smooth end surfaceextending outwardly of the generally circular outer periphery of saiddisc-like supporting means and with the mounting blocks being tiltedfrom the radial opposite to the direction of rotation to position therespective cutting edges at the cutting periphery of the reel and toprovide clearance to the rear of each cutting blade for rearwarddislodgement on application of excessive force.

2. A forage harvester reel as set forth in claim 1 I wherein said firstfastening means on each mounting block has less shear strength than saidsecond fastening means securing said mounting block to said respectivesupporting means.

3. A forage harvester reel as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cuttingblades are spiral in shape and said end surfaces are contoured to thespiral configuration.

4. A forage harvester reel as set forth in claim 1 wherein said supportmeans comprise six support plates in three pair with the two supportplates in each pair spaced the width of said mounting blocks attachedthereto, each plate having two rows of circular concentric rows of holesand said fastening means including bolts extending through said holesfor securing the mounting blocks thereto in different number of sets ofmounting blocks for forming the reel with different number of cuttingblades.

5. A forage harvester reel as set forth in claim 1 wherein there isprovided vertical side walls at each end of said reel, respectively,opposed guide pins and means for retractably mounting said opposed guidepins on the opposite side of said walls from said reel and spaced fromthe shaft approximately the same distance as the cutting periphery ofsaid blades and positionable to overlap with the ends of said blades forinitially and uniformly setting said blades on the mounting blocks.

6. A forage harvester reel as set forth in claim 5 wherein said mountingmeans for said guide pins comprises U-shaped bracket perpendicular tothe respective side walls having respective base portion spaced fromsaid respective side wall, said base portions having square shapedopenings aligned with corresponding square shaped openings in said sidewall, said guide pins having corresponding square shapes and slideablymounted in said respective openings, pinned washers between saidrespective base portions and said wall, helical springs about saidrespective guide pins and between said respective side walls and saidrespective pinned washers to urge said guide pins to retracted,exterior, nonguiding positions and bores in said guide pins to receiveretention members fitting in said bores on the inner side of said baseportion facing said side walls to hold said guide pins in the guidingposition.

7. In a forage harvester having a rotatably mounted reel with cuttingblades extending longitudinally thereon and side walls at opposite endsof said reel, blade positioning means comprising a pair of opposedbracket means mounted on the sides of said walls opposite to said reel,pin means mounted in said respective bracket means and extendiblethrough said respective side walls in reciprocal relation therewith andadjacent to the edges of said cutting blades to position said cuttingblades on the reel.

8. In a forage harvester as set forth in claim 7 wherein retention meansare provided on said bracket means and said pin means to hold said pinsin an inserted blade setting position.

9. In a forage harvester as set forth in claim 7 wherein said first andsecond pin means are aligned.

10. In a forage harvester as set forth in claim 7 wherein said first andsecond pin means are circumferentially offset.

11. in a forage harvester as set forth in claim 10 wherein said cuttingblades have spiral configurations and said pin means are offset so thatthe opposite ends of a given blade are positionable in relation to saidfirst and second pin means in a single position.

12. In a forage harvester as set forth in claim 7 wherein said first andsecond bracket means have portions spaced from said respective sidewalls and said portions and side walls have openings with said pin meansextending therethrough for guiding said pins in the reciprocal relation.

1. A forage harvester reel comprising a rotatably mounted shaft, aplurality of pairs of closely spaced apart disc-like supporting meanshaving a generally circular outer periphery, said supporting means beingaxially spaced on an extending normal to said shaft and fixedly attachedthereto, a plurality of cutting blades with each having a cutting edge,a plurality of discrete mounting blocks for each supporting means with amounting block for one supporting means being separate from the mountingblocks of the other supporting means, each mounting block having asmooth end surface, first fastening means detachably securing saidcutting blades to the respective end surfaces of said mounting blockswith said cutting blades extending generally transverse to therespective mounting blocks and said fastening means and said cuttingblades providing for rearward displacement of said blades relative tothe mounting block on application of excessive force thereto, secondfastening means detachably securing said mounting blocks between pairsof respective supporting means with the smooth end surface extendingoutwardly of the generally circular outer periphery of said disc-likesupporting means and with the mounting blocks being tilted from theradial opposite to the direction of rotation to position the respectivecutting edges at the cutting periphery of the reel and to provideclearance to the rear of each cutting blade for rearward dislodgement onapplication of excessive force.
 2. A forage harvester reel as set forthin claim 1 wherein said first fastening means on each mounting block hasless shear strength than said second fastening means securing saidmounting block to said respective supporting means.
 3. A forageharvester reel as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cutting blades arespiral in shape and said end surfaces are contoured to the spiralconfiguration.
 4. A forage harvester reel as set forth in claim 1wherein said support means comprise six support plates in three pairwith the two support plates in each pair spaced the width of saidmounting blocks attached thereto, each plate having two rows of circularconcentric rows of holes and said fastening means including boltsextending thrOugh said holes for securing the mounting blocks thereto indifferent number of sets of mounting blocks for forming the reel withdifferent number of cutting blades.
 5. A forage harvester reel as setforth in claim 1 wherein there is provided vertical side walls at eachend of said reel, respectively, opposed guide pins and means forretractably mounting said opposed guide pins on the opposite side ofsaid walls from said reel and spaced from the shaft approximately thesame distance as the cutting periphery of said blades and positionableto overlap with the ends of said blades for initially and uniformlysetting said blades on the mounting blocks.
 6. A forage harvester reelas set forth in claim 5 wherein said mounting means for said guide pinscomprises U-shaped bracket perpendicular to the respective side wallshaving respective base portion spaced from said respective side wall,said base portions having square shaped openings aligned withcorresponding square shaped openings in said side wall, said guide pinshaving corresponding square shapes and slideably mounted in saidrespective openings, pinned washers between said respective baseportions and said wall, helical springs about said respective guide pinsand between said respective side walls and said respective pinnedwashers to urge said guide pins to retracted, exterior, nonguidingpositions and bores in said guide pins to receive retention membersfitting in said bores on the inner side of said base portion facing saidside walls to hold said guide pins in the guiding position.
 7. In aforage harvester having a rotatably mounted reel with cutting bladesextending longitudinally thereon and side walls at opposite ends of saidreel, blade positioning means comprising a pair of opposed bracket meansmounted on the sides of said walls opposite to said reel, pin meansmounted in said respective bracket means and extendible through saidrespective side walls in reciprocal relation therewith and adjacent tothe edges of said cutting blades to position said cutting blades on thereel.
 8. In a forage harvester as set forth in claim 7 wherein retentionmeans are provided on said bracket means and said pin means to hold saidpins in an inserted blade setting position.
 9. In a forage harvester asset forth in claim 7 wherein said first and second pin means arealigned.
 10. In a forage harvester as set forth in claim 7 wherein saidfirst and second pin means are circumferentially offset.
 11. In a forageharvester as set forth in claim 10 wherein said cutting blades havespiral configurations and said pin means are offset so that the oppositeends of a given blade are positionable in relation to said first andsecond pin means in a single position.
 12. In a forage harvester as setforth in claim 7 wherein said first and second bracket means haveportions spaced from said respective side walls and said portions andside walls have openings with said pin means extending therethrough forguiding said pins in the reciprocal relation.